Danish tourist gang-raped, robbed, beaten in New Dehli shopping area

A 51-year-old Danish tourist was gang-raped near a popular shopping area in New Delhi after she got lost and approached a group of men for directions back to her hotel, police said Wednesday.

A 51-year-old Danish woman was gang-raped Tuesday in New Dehli after she asked a group of men for directons back to her hotel.

By ASHOK SHARMA ASSOCIATED PRESS

January 15, 2014 - 12:50 pm

An Indian investigator speaks on his phone Wednesday at the spot where police say a Danish tourist was gang-raped in New Delhi. The 51-year-old tourist was attacked Tuesday near a popular shopping area in New Delhi after she stopped to ask for directions, police said. The attack is the latest case to focus international attention on the scourge of rape and violence against women in India. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

A 51-year-old Danish tourist was gang-raped Tuesday near a popular central shopping area in New Dehli, police said Wednesday. The woman had lost her way in the Indian capital and stopped to ask for directions back to this hotel, Hotel Amax Inn. The woman managed to reach her hotel Tuesday evening and the owner called police. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Foreign tourists walk past Delhi police officers Wednesday in a neighborhood that houses hundreds of budget hotels in New Delhi, India. A Danish tourist was gang-raped Tuesday evening near a popular central shopping area in the Indian capital after she lost her way and asked for directions back to her hotel, police said. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

NEW DELHI — A 51-year-old Danish tourist was gang-raped near a popular shopping area in New Delhi after she got lost and approached a group of men for directions back to her hotel, police said Wednesday.

Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said two people were arrested after a daylong search for the suspects. Details were not immediately available.

The attack is the latest crime to focus attention on the scourge of sexual violence in India.

The woman also was robbed and beaten in the attack, which happened Tuesday near Connaught Place, Bhagat said.

The woman asked the men for directions to her hotel, Bhagat said. They lured her to a secluded area where they raped her at knife-point, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

The woman managed to reach her hotel Tuesday evening and the owner called police. Police were questioning several other suspects.

“When she came, it was miserable,” said Amit Bahl, owner of the Amax hotel in the Paharganj area, which is popular with backpackers. The woman was crying and “not in good shape,” he said.

“I am really ashamed that this happened,” said Bahl, who sounded shaken.

A sign outside the hotel reads, “Recommended by Lonely Planet.”

The woman, whose name was not released, was on her way back to Denmark, said Ole Egberg Mikkelsen, head of the Danish Foreign Ministry’s consular department in Copenhagen, which handles cases involving Danes abroad. Egberg Mikkelsen said the woman had received assistance from Indian and Danish authorities, and that her next of kin had been contacted.

An Indian police official said the woman boarded a flight home Wednesday morning.

It was not immediately known whether she had been traveling alone. The Danish Embassy in New Delhi had no comment.

The problem of sexual violence in India has gained widespread attention since the horrific gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus in December 2012. Public fury over the case has led to more stringent laws that doubled prison terms for rape to 20 years and criminalized voyeurism and stalking.

But for many women, particularly the poor, daily indignities and abuse continue unabated and the new laws have not made the streets any safer. Ranjana Kumari, director of India’s Center for Social Research, said India’s conservative, patriarchal traditions lead men to use rape as a tool to instill fear in women.

“This mindset is not changing,” she said. “It’s a huge challenge.”

Experts say the rapid growth of India’s cities and the yawning gulf between rich and poor are exacerbating the problem of sexual violence, with young men struggling to prove their traditional dominance in a changing world.

Cultural stigmas, police apathy and judicial incompetence have long made it difficult for women to even report rapes.

Still, there has been a surge in the number of rapes being reported recently, suggesting women are emboldened to speak up. Between January and October last year, 1,330 rapes were reported in Delhi and its suburbs, compared with 706 for all of 2012, according to government figures.

Foreigners also have been targets, including a Swiss woman who was cycling with her husband in central India when she was gang-raped.

The cases threaten India’s lucrative tourism industry. Last year, the Tourism Ministry launched an “I Respect Women” campaign to reassure travelers. Tourism accounted for 6.6 percent of India’s GDP in 2012, the latest year for which figures are available.

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Associated Press writers Chonchui Ngashangva in New Delhi and Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report.

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